Invest in growing Scottish businesses
Equity funding
The Scottish Enterprise Investment team can provide risk capital investment for Scottish Companies through three funds: the Scottish Seed Fund, the Scottish Co-investment Fund and the Scottish Venture Fund. Together these three funds offer risk capital investment for Scottish companies at various stages of growth. Each of these funds adopts a highly innovative co-investment/shared risk intervention model to encourage more private investors to invest and to increase funding into Scottish early stage companies.
Scottish Seed Fund - investment between £20,000 - £100,000
The Scottish Seed Fund (SSF) provides equity investments from £20,000 to £100,000 to early-stage businesses that meet the criteria and are keen to grow. The SSF will invest in start-ups and early stage companies at the end phase of product development and/or commercialisation.
Find out more about the Scottish Seed Fund
Scottish Co-investment Fund – investment between £100,000 - £1 million
The Scottish Co-investment Fund (SCF) is a £72 million equity investment fund set up by Scottish Enterprise, and partly financed by the European Regional Development Fund to invest £100,000 to £1 million in business deals of up to £2 million.
The SCF does not find and negotiate investment deals on its own; instead it forms contractual partnerships with its private sector partners (SCF Partners). The SCF Partner finds the investment opportunity and offers to invest its own equity cash. If the opportunity needs more money than the SCF Partner can provide, it can call on the SCF to co-invest.
Find out more about the Scottish Co-investment fund
Scottish Venture Fund – investment between £2 million - £10 million
The Scottish Venture Fund (SVF) has been set up by Scottish Enterprise in conjunction with the Scottish Government to invest £500,000 to £2 million in company finance deals of between £2 million and £10 million.
Find out more about the Scottish Venture Fund
Investment Management
If a company has secured investment from one of the funds mentioned above, the Investment Management Team will assume responsibility for that SEi investment. The team’s activities range from capital, interest, and dividend collection through to loan rescheduling, instrument conversions, introduction of contacts/potential recruits and follow on investments.
The team will ensure that investee companies are aware of other products available from SE and work effectively with other parts of the organisation.
Search the SCF Portfolio
Search the SCF portfolio for companies in which the SCF has invested.
Contact Us
For general enquiries about SEi, contact our transaction team
Other useful information
Business advisers
Banks, accountancy and legal firms, and management consultants will all be aware of new businesses and entrepreneurs, and may be able to put you in touch with them. Alternatively public sector advisers may also be able to help. Find out more:
Business introduction agencies
A number of private and public sector initiatives exist to promote informal investment and to help connect investors with those seeking equity finance. Most agencies can provide summaries of investment opportunities to their database of investors.
Find out about investment opportunities:
Investors outside Scotland
If you have a business based outside Scotland and are looking for opportunities to invest in businesses in Scotland, Scottish Development International (SDI) can help.
Find out more on the Scottish Development International (SDI) website